Adjunct Assistant Professor
- PHD., VIRGINIA TECH
- MED, VIRGINIA TECH
- BS/BA, UNIVERSITY OF SAN DIEGO
Tawni Paradise, PhD, received her doctorate in Engineering Education with a focus on parent-child engagement in engineering activities at home from Virginia Tech. Concurrently with her PhD, she earned a Masters of Education in Integrative STEM Education from Virginia Tech. Prior to this, she attended the University of San Diego where she received an honors Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering.
In her current role, Dr. Paradise teaches courses in both the departments of Industrial and Systems Engineering and Computer Science at the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, including introductory coding courses (COMP 110), introductory engineering courses (ENGR 101), upper-level professional practice and preparation courses (ISYE 305), and probability and statistics courses (ISYE 330). She has previous experience teaching a wide range of math, engineering, and computer science courses at various high schools and universities. She also engages heavily in precollege engineering initiatives, including one-time and extended opportunities for PK-12 students to engage with engineering concepts and projects. Her research interests are largely encompassed in the engineering education space and include pre-college STEM engagement, supporting parent engagement in STEM at home, pedagogical implications in engineering coursework and student support systems.
Scholarly Work
- With Malle R Schilling, Jacob R. Grohs, Holly M. Matusovich , and Cheryl Carrico Cheryl Carrico 4, "Differentiating middle school students’ conceptions of engineering from interests in engineering," 2025.
- " An evaluation of an implementation of high school girls summer outreach camp converted to an online format (evaluation)," 2022.
- With Tahsin Chowdhury, Kirsten Davis, Homero Murzi, and Michelle Soledad, "Developing Global Competency Virtually: Student Experiences in a Global Program That Transitioned Online Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.," 2022.
- With Malle R Schilling, Jake Grohs, and Jordan L Landey, "Teacher experiences in a community-based rural partnership: Recognizing community assets," 2022.
- With Holly M Matusovich, Andrew L Gillen,, W Van Montfrans, Jacob R Grohs, and Cheryl Carrico, "Student outcomes from the collective design and delivery of culturally relevant engineering outreach curricula in rural and Appalachian middle schools," International Journal of Engineering Education (IJEE), 2021.
- "Supporting Parent Engagement at Home: Parent Perceptions of Important Knowledge in Educating their Children in Engineering Activities of Varying Structure," 2021.
- With Malle R. Schilling, Jacob R. Grohs, Holly M Matusovich, Cheryl Carrico, and Holly Larson Lesko, "Changes in Teacher Self-efficacy Through Engagement in an Engineering Professional Development Partnership," 2020.